NEWS AND VIEWS

If you don't read any other article today, read this one in the Washington Post. It is an extensive account of the action that resulted in the awarding of a Silver Star to a female soldier, SGT Leigh Ann Hester, of the Kentucky National Guard. In the article, you will learn that this one squad of ARNG MPs (two women, eight men) killed 27 insurgents, wounded six others and saved a bunch of Turkish truck drivers from being kidnapped (presumably to be ransomed or beheaded). If it was a movie script, you would find it hard to believe (especially the part where one soldier, the platoon medic no less, was firing a SAW - Squad Automatic Weapon - with one hand in one direction, and his M-4 rifle in the other hand at insurgents in the other direction, all to protect the three wounded soldiers he was treating. Yes, he won the Silver Star, too).

If you have time to read another article, try this one from the Washington Times. Respected national security writer Bill Gertz reports on the growing concern inside the Pentagon about the increasing strength of the Chinese military. Here is the money quote:

Richard Fisher, vice president of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said that in 10 years, the Chinese army has shifted from a defensive force to an advanced military soon capable of operations ranging from space warfare to global non-nuclear cruise-missile strikes.

"Let's all wake up. The post-Cold War peace is over," Mr. Fisher said. "We are now in an arms race with a new superpower whose goal is to contain and overtake the United States."

Finally, from StrategyPage (via Instapundit), a couple of posts that shed some more light on what is happening in the Army with retention and recruiting.

June 25, 2005: The U.S. Army, scrambling to maintain strength, have found that they can help this effort just by making it easier for reservists to move over to the regular army. This new policy is partly the result of commanders noticing that a lot of reservists are quite enthusiastic about being on active duty, and many are eager to stay on active duty. But by law, unless Congress declares a general mobilization, most reservists cannot be kept on active duty much longer. The maximum time a reservist can be on active duty for the current "emergency" is 24 months. The army isn’t saying how many additional regular army troops it is going to pick up with this program, but it will probably be several thousand, and maybe much more. An important aspect of this is that these troops have a lot of experience, making them much more valuable than newly trained recruits.

June 23, 2005: The U.S. Army, facing problems recruiting troops, has found that much of the problem stems from parents, grandparents, guidance counselors, teachers and others who, either for political, emotional or information reasons, oppose American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and influence young men and women to not join the military. So the army is going after this opposition by offering tours at military posts, and meetings with young troops, to many of these "opinion makers." The potential recruits themselves are a lot more eager to join up, but recruiters report that, too many times, it’s the ill-will from “opinion makers” that makes the difference. Not all the opinion makers can be reached. Some are still living in the 1960s. But many of the opinion makers can be approached, and if some additional information on what the army is all about makes a difference, then it’s worth the effort.

It appears that those troops who have actual experience of combat operations in Iraq (and, presumably, a clearer picture as to the merits of the operation and its potential for success) are more likely to want to see the fight to its conclusion. In contrast, the young folks and their parents whose knowledge of the situation is limited to the incessantly gloomy assessments provided by the MSM are less and less eager to get involved.